A lot of musical purists are concerned about the switch from CDs to MP3’s- they are enraged that the quality of sound is dropping (and they weren’t thrilled with the change from Vinyl to CD in the first place). They’re hacked that music is accessible everywhere- you can put it on your laptop, your Ipod, your cell phone, heck you can even put tunes in your sunglasses now. These purists want music to be a purely aesthetic experience- they want music to be deep and meaningful and perfect- listened to in an environment that is suitable to listening to music. Music should be an experience- not a soundtrack.

I disagree. And I disagree violently. I used to be of that musical purist realm, but I have moved out of it. I left it behind when I realized that I want people to enjoy music. My very goal in life is to get the best music out there so that people can enjoy it. Many people want to enjoy music all the time- while they’re at home and on the go. They don’t care about sound quality- they care about the fact that at any time, they can pull up “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” by the Flaming Lips and rock out to it, whether they be getting lunch, waiting in a line, exercising, driving, whatever. Music makes people happy, and if music on cell phones at a lower quality is what makes people happy, then I’m all for it. Enjoy music, people- it is what makes life great. If you want to put it on your cell phone, go ahead and do so. When you max out your Ipod, you have my congratulations as part of the full-Ipod club. I really don’t care about the details any more- I just want you to love music as much as I do. And if you do it through terrible sound quality, so be it. I’ll see you around- I’ll be the one dancing my way down the streets. Hopefully you’ll be dancing too.